A small, but growing group of private individuals decorate the trees on their properties with large, lighted spheres during the Christmas season. Often, these spheres are hand-made from chicken wire, or the like, with common Christmas lights. Typically these spheres include 100 to 200 of mini-lights of various colors and/or multicolored mini-lights. In some cases, entire neighborhoods have teamed together to make a wonderful lightshow as you drive through on residential streets.
While these light spheres are attractive, there are several problems associated with the chicken-wired spheres and their associated construction. For example, the spheres are made of chicken wire that must be cut to length, wound around into a cylinder and then shaped into a sphere. The common Christmas mini-lights are then wound around the chicken wire sphere and attached using twist ties, or other materials to attach the light sting(s) to the sphere. This endeavor requires considerable time and exposes the craftsman to injury from the sharp ends of the cut chicken wire. In addition, it is often difficult to construct and/or maintain a true spherical shape using chicken wire. Another problem is being able to find space to store these spheres during non-use, i.e. the off season or during transport between festivities, as the wired-spheres are not collapsible or easily packaged. Further, stocking the retail shelves with the chicken wire light spheres is problematic for many reasons. For instance, their bulky shapes require an inappropriate amount of shelf space, particularly during a busy holiday season, and packaging the chicken-wired spheres is difficult and expensive.
Therefore, Applicants desire an inflatable externally lighted decoration without the drawbacks presented by the traditional decoration strategies.